Commonwealth Connectivity Agenda

Commonwealth Connectivity Agenda Public Private Dialogue on Women in the Digital Economy and International Trade January 2019

The Premise Institutions, regulators and policymakers in Commonwealth countries speak several dialects of the same regulatory language. This shared regulatory language allows for policy and regulatory conversations at a more granular, practical level than takes place in any other global fora. This finds expression in the networked nature of the Commonwealth forums of regulators, professionals, government agencies and industries.

The Road Ahead 2030 1 Billion more people than today The 640 million young people in the Commonwealth currently aged 15-29 years old will be in prime productivity and in need of jobs in a new technological era 60% of the population will live in cities 4th Industrial Revolution will radically change nature of trade and industry Environmental concerns will have led to fundamental shifts in a wide range of industries- plastics, automotive, agriculture 2006 1 Billion less people on the earth than today 45% of the world population lived in cities No Global Financial Crisis No sharing economy 2G was the standard speed on phone access Facebook just became a public site opened beyond education institutions No Kyoto or Paris Agreements

Background At the 2018 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, Heads: Adopted the Declaration on the Commonwealth Connectivity Agenda for Trade and Investment; Mandated the Secretariat to develop an accompanying action plan that considers (i) capacity building (ii) hard connectivity and (iii) soft connectivity; Agreed to (i) share best practices and experiences (ii) under take voluntary mutual support; and In the context of the importance of long-term vision on trade and investment: Agreed to work together towards an appropriate framework, and Agreed to facilitate business-to-business contacts

General Objectives Global Growth Jobs U$2 Trillion in Trade Expanded Investment Knowledge Exchange Development

Which Intra-Commonwealth Trade Are We Targeting?

Areas of Engagement Member-led dialogue structured around clusters: Physical Connectivity Digital Connectivity Regulatory Connectivity Business-to-Business Connectivity Supply Side Connectivity 2 cross-cutting issues mainstreamed: Inclusive trade Sustainable trade

Clusters Groups of members who have opted-in to work on a specific area Trade+ discussions Forum for sharing best practices, experiences and undertaking voluntary mutual support.

Physical Connectivity Cluster Work programme will focus on Digital Infrastructure Foundation of successful entry into the Digital Economy and as a base for smart cities Two kinds: Pure Digital Infrastructure Fibre optics, 5G, cloud server farms Smart Infrastructure Existing system where digital hardware is bolted on Users of infrastructure provide the data Traditional Challenges Remain Outdated regulatory policy Financing gaps Skills deficits, and Lack of access to affordable energy.

Digital Connectivity Cluster Work programme will focus on the National Digital Economy Particular challenges for digitisation on traditional trade and investment policy Challenges here include: Breaching the Digital Divide Competition- How to address global anti-competitive behaviour Privacy and data protection- How do we strike the balance? Skills Gap

Regulatory Connectivity Cluster Work programme will focus on the Business Environment for MSMEs Bad regulations are expensive for MSMEs and create room for corruption. Economy-wide impact on productivity, growth and ultimately development Two particular aspects: Ease of Doing Business Good Regulatory Practice Challenges: Political and Bureaucratic will

Supply Side Connectivity Cluster The Integrating MSMEs into Agri-Food Value Chains Changing global consumer needs for always fresh and higher sustainability requirements in some markets. Initial focus will be on a coconut and soya to see how to move forward pre-existing studies into action Particular focus on the nature of evolving green requirements on agriculture

Business to Business Connectivity Increasing B2B and B2G engagement around increased intra-Commonwealth trade and investment. Bringing private sector associations from across the Commonwealth to provide their views to officials as they engage on the process of growing intra-Commonwealth trade.

Mainstreaming Inclusive and Sustainable Trade Inclusive Trade: Women: Address systemic barriers to women s full and equal participation in the economy Youth: Support youth entrepreneurship Sustainable Trade: Blue Economy: Linkage with the Commonwealth Blue Charter Green Economy : Linkage with the Digital Economy and Supply Side Connectivity

Kirk Haywood Legal Adviser- Trade & Lead, Commonwealth Connectivity Agenda 28 January 2019